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PRESK.NTED BY 



TWENTY YEARS 

OF THE ^r^*/x 

Westborough Historical Society 



AN ADDRESS BY THE 



President, Rev. S. I. Briant, October 27, 1909. 



WKSfBOROUGH, MASS. 

ChronoType Printing Company 
1909. 






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{Fttt:,'.-. 
MAY 28 1910 



The Address 



The agreement for forming the So- 
ciety was signed January 10, 1889, by 
twenty-three persons. The first meet 
ing was held with Judge Forbes on 
February first. Two days later the of- 
ficers were chosen. 

President, Mr. J. A. Fayerweather 

Vice President, Mr. B. B. Nourse. 

Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. C. S. 
Henry. 

Directors, Judge W. T. Forbes, Mr. 
F. C. Bates, Mrs. A. F. Judd. 

The Society was incorporated Feb- 
ruary 28, 1889. 

Historical Addreses. 

The attention of the Society was at 
first given to matters of local interest, 
as we shall see later, But before long 
addresses were provided in order to 
awaken an interest in historical events. 

The first of these was given in De* 
cember, 1893, by Rev. A. Titus of Na- 
tick on "The Days of the N. E. 
Primer," with an exhibition of old 
manuscripts. 



The next March Hon. A. S. Roe of 
Worcester, lectured on "The abolition 
of Fast Day and the observance of the 
nineteenth of April as a legal holiday." 
In April, a paper was read on "African 
Slavery in N. F.," by Mr. A. F. Brown 
of Bedford, with photographs and pa- 
pers. In November, there was an es- 
say on "Our Grandmothers' Thanks- 
giving," by Mrs. M. A. Fletcher of 
Bedford. 

In March, 1895, Mr. R. Janney pre- 
sented the subject of "Quakerism." 
He showed a certificate of his mother's 
marriage signed by sixty of those 
present. In May, Senator G. F. Hoar 
gave an address on "The opening of 
the North West." In November the 
address was on "The Scotch Irish in 
America" by lyibrarian S. S. Green of 
Worcester. 

In December, 1896, Rev. A. E. Hylan 
lectured on "Christian I^ife as por- 
trayed in the Catacombs." 

In 1897, the January address was on 
"Footprints of the Nipmucks," by Mr. 



J. C. Crane of Millbury. Specimens 
of their handiwork were exhibited. In 
Februarj' the address was on "Some 
Scenes in Pilgrim History," by Hon. 
A. T. Ivord of Plymouth. In March, 
Mr. A. K. Brown told us of "A missing- 
link in the history of the Old South 
Church, Boston." In April, Mr. F. B. 
Sanborn of Concord, gave an address 
on "John Brown, his purpose, trial. 
and the sequel in Concord." 

In January, 1898, an address was 
given on "The Behring Sea and its 
wonderful and valuable seal inhabi- 
tants," by Dr. Mendenhall, president 
of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
It was illustrated by the stereopticon. 
In February, there was a lecture on 
'•An outline of the year 1861," by Mr. 
J. H. Merriam of South Framingham. 
In March, "The Po.wer of History," 
was the theme treated by Ex-Gov. D. 
H. Chamberlain, of South Carolina, a 
former resident here, several of whose 
ancestors were buried in Memorial 
Cemetery. 

The lecture in January, 1899, was on 
"The war with Spain chiefly in the 
Santiago Campaign," by Major H. B. 
Fairbanks. In February, " The battle 
of Lexington in America and Eng- 
land," was set forth by Rev. A. C. 
Staples of Lexington. In May, Mr.C. 
M. Fay related his war experiences 
and described a map of Andersonville 
prison which he presented to the 
Society. 

In November, Miss S. D. Spurr r^ad 
a paper on "Heraldry." Mrs. Metcalf 
illustrated the subjects with readings 
and Mr. Eittlefield with heraldic 
drawings. 

In April, 1901, Rev. A. D. Smith of 
Northborough spoke of "The Metta 
Katta Indians of Alaska." 

Mr. H. Butterworth addressed us in 



January, 1902, on "Over the Andes.''' 
On March 17, Rev. J. J. Walker gave 
an address on "The early missionary 
of Ireland. St. Patrick," and Rev. A. 
E. Hylan gave select readings. In 
April, Rev. O. S. Davis of Newton told 
the story of "The Separatists in Eng- 
land and Holland." 

In January, 1903, Mr. F. B. Sanborn 
addressed us on "The relation of Mass- 
achusetts to New Hampshire and 
Maine in the seventeenth century." In 
April, Rev. C. Stebbins of Framing- 
ham gaye an address on "The Louisi- 
ana Purchase." In October we lis- 
tened to an interesting paper by Mrs, 
Judd, on "Old Deerfield, its arts and 
crafts." 

In February, 1904, Hon. A. S. Roe 
again spoke to us; this time on "The 
Governors of Massachusetts." 

In February, 1905, Mr. Butterworth 
again visited us and gave a talk on 
"The old Court End of Boston. In 
April Dr. C. D. Wright of Clark Uni- 
versity lectured on "Romantic Social- 
ism." 

In February, 190G, Mr. J. R. Ander- 
son, a Scotchman, gave an address on 
"Robert Burns, Poet," reading several 
of Burns' poems. In April, there was 
an illustrated talk on "Traveling and 
Shooting in Asia," by Dr. W. Smith 
of Worcester. 

In February, 1907, "Tales of Boston 
Harbor" was the subject of an illus- 
trated lecture by Mr. Hasseltine of 
Boston. In March Rev. R. W. Wal- 
lace of Boston lectured on "The Story 
of Jamestown." The address in April 
was by Rev. A. Titus of Boston on 
"The time of the Old Bay Province, 
169;^^ to 1775." In November, Mrs. 
Bates gave a talk on "Ancestry" and 
exhibited a copy of a genealogical, 
register. 



In February, 1909, Rev. Mr, Wheeler 
of Woodville spoke of his personal re- 
lations with the army as chaplain of 
the 18th colored regiment and of his 
recollections of President Lincoln. 

In March, Miss Spurr read a paper on 
"A backward g-lance at the 19th cen- 
tury with a glimpse of the country 
doctor." 

Travei, Tai<ks. 

Besides these historical addresses we 
have been favored with many on trav- 
els abroad. At the meeting in Decem- 
ber, 1895, Supt, T. F. Chapin took us 
with him in "A walk over a decisive 
battlefield," illustrated by the stere- 
opticon. The next month we saw "At- 
lanta in the War of the Rebellion, '> 
with Mr. F. W. Forbes and "Atlanta 
and the Exposition," with Mr. B. A. 
Nourse 

In April, 1898, Mr, W. J. H. Nourse 
of Worcester took us with him on "The 
Expedition up the Nile for the Relief 
of General Gordon," and related many 
personal experiences. 

In March, 1899, Rev. F. Nichols gave 
an account of "A Tramp Through 
Ireland," showing many articles of 
interest. In April, President Walker 
told of "A tour through Egypt," with 
the exhibition of many mementos. 

In December there was a talk on 
"Reminiscences of a tour in Europe," 
by Rev. S, Perry of Boston, illustrated 
with photographs. 

In February, 1900, Mr, J. E, Brigliam 
took us with him on "A trip to Cuba 
and the Windward Isles," showing 
many articles he had collected. 

The next January Mr, Brigham gave 
a graphic account of his journey to 
Jerusalem, the holy sepulchre, the 
Dead Sea, to Madeira, the Nile, the 
Pyramids, Cairo and to Gibralter, il- 
lustrated with many photographs. In 
February we saw "The Cathedrals of 



Europe" as portrayed by Rev, Mr. 
Nichols, 

In December, 1904, Vice President 
Walker told an interesting story of his 
journeyings in Japan, 

In January, 1908. the Thursday Club 
met with us and we listened to Judge 
and Mrs, Forbes on their "Observa- 
tions Abroad," 

Entertainments, 

We have also shared in other gather- 
ings of a more social character. In 
October, 1897, Rev, Mr. Weeks read an 
original story entitled "Cindy," 

In January, 1898, Dr, Corej' gave a 
stereopticon exhibition of pictures of 
"Yellowstone Park." 

At a social in December, 1890, many 
dressed in old style garments. It 
closed with an old folks dance, Dr, 
Barrett manager. 

Dr. Corey the next March presented 
through his stereopticon, pictures of 
"The mission buildings in California 
and great events in early N, E," In 
April there was a costume party at 
President Walker's, Some garments 
worn were two hundred years old. In 
May, we met in Grange Hall, where 
Dr. Corey exhibited "Westborough 
Past and Present." 

On December 31. 1900,there was held 
"The End of the Century Sociable," 
The President spoke of the great 
changes in the century past. Superin- 
tendent Waldron read from Whittier's 
Centennial. The Vice-President read 
the 90th Psalm. " Auld Lang Syne " 
was sung and just as the century 
closed all joined in singing, the doxol- 
ogy, "Praise God from whom all bless- 
ings flow." 

In March, 1901, at Grange Hall, Rev. 
A. T. Kempton of Fitchburg. told, with 
the aid of the stereopticon, "The Story 
of Evangeline." At a social in Decem- 



ber, many ancient articles were con- 
sidered and their uses explained. 

In February, 1902, a band of min- 
strels visited us and entertained us 
with solos, choruses and various or- 
chestral music. 

The next February, a musicale was 
held. In March, in the Town Hall, 
Rev, Mr. Kempton gave a second illus- 
trated lecture on "The Courtship of 
Miles Standish" with readings from 
lyongfellow's poem. 

In January, 1904, a paper on " Early 
National Music" was read by Miss G. 
E. Clark and several musical selections 
were rendered. In March, " The 
Cranford Play " was given in Grange 
Hall. 

In January, 1905, there was a musi- 
cale by Miss A. F. Goddard. 

In March, an entertainment in 
Grange Hall, entitled " L,end me five 
shillings." 

In February, 1906, was presented 
the play "The Kleptomaniac." 

In December, 1907, Miss Goddard 
read a paper on"01d Songs Illustrated' ' 
accompanied with several musical se- 
lections. 

Field Days. 

The field days of the Society call for 
separate mention. The first of these 
occurred in October, 1889, when there 
was held with Judge Forbes, "A Park- 
man Day." Mrs. Forbes read a paper 
on the revered first pastor, from whose 
diary she had read on the day of the 
incorporation of the Society. Mrs. 
Lrcach presented a sketch of the Park- 
man Family, of whom many distin- 
guished representatives were present. 
A drive was taken to nine sites once 
familiar to Mr. Parkman. Dr. Corey 
also read a poem on "The Philosophj' 
of Tom Cook." 

In October, 1891, was the next field 



day, at which "The Rice Family" waa 
considered in a paper by Judge Forbes. 
In June, 1893, the Society entertained 
some sixty guests from the Worcester 
Society of Antiquity, in a drive about 
town in four barges, visiting places of 
historic interest. 

At the field day in June, 1894, fifty-six 
members braved the heat and drove 
over to Grafton where they were joined 
by friends from Worcester and visited 
various points of interest. 

In June the next year, fifty-six went 
to Shrewsbury and visited the Old 
Pease Tavern, and the Ward house, 
where among many articles an auto- 
graphic letter from General Wash- 
ington to General Ward was shown. 
Sheriff Ward's old yellow gig with its 
white horse surrounded by members of 
the Society was photographed. We 
also visited the old Sumner parsonage 
with its beautiful old furniture. After 
dinner we went to the cemetery where 
were the graves of the Ward family. 
We also visited the famous balanced 
rock. 

The field day in 1896, was passed in 
South Natick, sixty present. We visit- 
ed "The Sam L,awson Hou.se," the fa- 
mous Eliot Oak, five hundred years 
old, and the Historical Society Rooms 
in the Public Library. At dinner, 
speeches were made by Judge Forbes, 
Revs. Daniels and Dudley and Presi- 
dent Smith. We came home by way 
of the Hunnewell Gardens. 

The next June, we went to Boston, 
to Faneuil Hall, the Old State House, 
Old Granary Burying Ground, the 
Cemetery at King's Chapel, the Old 
North Church, to the Agassiz Museum 
at Cambridge, Memorial Hall and the 
Fogg Art Museum. 

In 1898, the outing was in Lancaster. 
Some forty went. Mr. Nourse, the 
town historian, conducted the parly 



to the Unitarian church, of which Dr. 
Bartol had been pastor for fifty years, 
and to the Town Library. Afterwards 
there was a drive about town and 
about Clinton. 

The next year fifty-three went to 
Worcester, We visited the Society of 
Antiquity, where Hon. A. S. Roe and 
Major Dodge addressed us, the U. S. 
Envelope Factory, the old Salisbury 
mansion, the American Antiquarian 
Society, the new Art Museum, the 
Isaiah Thomas house and the Probate 
Court room, where Judge Forbes ex- 
hibited several ancient manuscripts. 

June 20, 1902, was field day in old 
Concord, where we visited the histori- 
cal grounds and the places sacred to 
the memory of the greatest names in 
American literature. 

September 5, 1904, was a notable da}'. 
A tablet in memory of the Rice Boys, 
who were captured August 8, 1704, by 
Indians, was set up at the Northwest 
corner of the Bartlett meadow, with 
an address later, on "The Rice ]Joys," 
by Judge Forbes. 

The Fli Whitney tablet was dedica- 
ted at his birthplace. Hon. Mr. Roe 
gave the address. At the lunch in the 
orchard, Vice-President Walker pre- 
sided. Mr. Newcomb described his 
model of the cotton gin. I^etters were 
read from the inventor's grandson and 
granddaughter and from others. Mr. 
R. Bowman, a centenarian, was elec- 
ted to membership. There were 250 
present. In the afternoon a company 
climbed the adjacent pasture hill. 

The next field day was on July 15, 
1905, when some sixt}' persons gather- 
ed on Whitney Hill. Addresses were 
given by the President, Revs. Schuh 
and Walker and Mr. Newcomb. 

In June, 1906, fifty members went to 
Wachusett Dam and Reservoir and to 
the Holder Memorial Building in Clin- 



ton. After lunch, in which we were 
royally aided by the society there. Dr. 
Corey spoke of his new residence in 
California and Judge Forbes of " The 
Forbes Homestead" and some newly 
discovered Parkman manuscripts. 

In August, 1907, several members re- 
sponded to the invitation of the North- 
borough Society and attended the 
public addresses at their town hall and 
at the placing of a tablet to mark 
the site of the Samuel Goodnow house 
on the Marlborough road. 

IvOCAi, History. 

The chief interest of a historical so- 
ciety must gather around its local his- 
tory. We find that steps were taken 
at the first meeting of our Society to 
examine old deeds and records in order 
to determine the names to be given to 
the hills of the town. Committees 
were then and later appointed to copy 
the inscriptions on the grave stones of 
our two oldest cemeteries. A cabinet 
of oak was made by Mr. B. B. Nourse 
from the timbers of the Old Arcade. 

In May, 1890, a paper was read on 
"The old village church as it was in 
1826." 

In June, 1893, Mr. Fayerweather re- 
lated many interesting stories of his 
boyhood days and in October many 
members told of their early school days. 

When, in June, 1894, the Society en- 
tered its room in Post Office block, 
open house was held and many gifts 
were presented. At a house warming 
in October the record reads, "Many 
brought not frankincense and myrrh 
but what was to them more precious 
by association, books whcse well worn 
pages had been lovingly scanned by 
dear old grandmothers and grandfath- 
ers." Besides these, pictures and other 
i-elics were given. In November a col- 
lection of Alaskan curios was bought. 



The January meeting in 1895 was 
devoted to Horace Maynard. Papers 
were read which had been prepared by 
his son Commander W. Maynard and 
by his neighbor Capt. W. Rule. 

In October, 1896, Judge Forbes gave 
a delightful talk on "The first church 
of Westborough," with curious inci- 
dents, methods of church discipline 
and government in those early days. 

In December, 1903, the topic was 
"L,ocal Historical Ivandmarks." Judge 
Forbes spoke of the noted men of the 
town; Mrs. Forbes, of marking the 
birthplace of Eli Whitney and the sites 
of the two first church buildings; Mr- 
Bates, of Eli Whitney and especially of 
his invention of the "Uniformity sys- 
tem in making firearms"; Mrs. Bates, 
of marking the graves of the old Revo- 
lutionary soldiers and the site of the 
first Baptist church; Mr, Reilly, of a 
letter received by the selectmen rela- 
tive to erecting a monument to Eli 
Whitney in the public square; Mr. G. 
B. Howe of Northborough, of the copy- 
ing of the town records by the N. E. 
Historic Genealogical Society. A 
committee was appointed on marking 
historic sites. 

In December, 1903, "The Forbes 
Family" was presented in a paper by 
Miss E. E. Forbes and "The Rice 
Family," by Judge Forbes. 

September 20, 1905, the Society was 
represented by the President at the 
dedication of the Holder Memorial 
Building by the Clinton Society, 
He also attended, November 16, 
the setting up of a tablet to the 
minute men of the Revolution by 
the Shrewsbury Society. In De- 
cember, there were addresses on mat- 
ters of local interest by Revs. Schuh 
and Jacobs and Vice President Walker. 

In January, 1906, Mrs. Forbes read a 
paper on "Stephen Maynard and his 



house." In March a paper on "The 
Forbush Tavern" was read by Miss 
M. L. Fisher. "The old residents of 
Piety Hill" were described by Mrs, 
Bates. "Character sketches of old 
citizens" were given by the Vice Presi- 
dent. A committee was appointed to 
mark the graves of Revolutionary sol- 
diers. On April 19, the room was 
opened to the members of the County 
C. E. Convention, of whom some 
three hundred visited us. A souvenir 
card had been presented to each 
member at their meeting, contain- 
ing ten lines from Rev. Mr. Park- 
man's diary of April 19, 1775. 

At a special meeting in May, Mrs, 
Gould presented papers on "The Breck 
Parkman Shop" and on "The Park- 
man Diaries." She also sent a letter 
offering the use of the Parkman man- 
uscripts in her possession to the So- 
ciety and ultimately the manuscripts 
themselves. They cover over six 
years. In October, Mrs, E. M. 
Brittan read a paper on "The Haskell 
House." Mrs. Bates gave interesting 
extracts from the Parkman diary of 
1773. In December Mrs. E. M. Howell 
of Worcester read a paper on "The 
Thomas Whitney House" and present- 
ed an original deed of land and also 
her father's sword. 

In January, 1907, the pastors of the 
several churches presented items on 
"Eocal church history." On April 9, 
the President attended a meeting of 
the Bostonian Society at which Dr. 
Jeffries presented the original records 
of a Harvard College Graduate Club of 
1723. They were in the handwriting 
of young Parkman, the secretary. 

In February, Mr. J. D. Estabrook of 
Northborough read a sketch of " The 
Governor Davis House and the Davis 
Family." Miss Spurr presented a 



paper on "The Cobb House and 
Familj'." 

In January, 1909, we met in Masonic 
Hall. Nearly two hundred were present. 
The topic was " The Fa.y Fajnily.' 
There was a large chart with the dif- 
ferent branches of the family on it 
from 1648 to 1909. Various papers and 
addresses were given by Mr. Herbert 
Fay and Judge Forbes of Worcester, 
Mr. A. P. Wilson, Mrs. C. M. Fay, 
Mrs. Bates, and Miss Jennie L. Fay. 
Letters were read from Revs. S. P. 
Faj' and C. S. Pease, Messrs. A. B 
Fay and C. F. Fay, and other members 
of the family. 

Library. 

Another line of the Society's work 
has been in maintaining a library. 
There have been several purchases of 
books, and certain exchanges have 
been made. But largely the accessions 
have been from gifts. We have now 
some 1200 bound volumes that have 
been classified and catalogued with 
some hundreds of unbound volumes. 

There are in all thirteen volumes of 
the transcribed copies of the Parkman 
Diary, covering a little over eight 
years. There are several scrap books 
containing obituary notices, war en- 
velopes, articles on Indian subjects, 
church items and the like. The manu- 
scripts of sermons, addresses, deeds 
and records must number between one 
and two hundred. There are also 
several valuable albums of photo- 
graphs of persons and places of local 
interest. 

Publications. 

The use that the Society has made 
of the printing press is worthy of no- 
tice. In 1895 it published Rev. Mr, 
Weeks' four articles given at the meet- 
ing in February in book form with il- 
lustrations under the title of "The Tin 



Kitchen," at the cost of S35, and at a 
profit of §15. 

Here we may mention also that in 
1897, china plates with cups and other 
articles were prepared with prints of 
Fli Whitney and objects of local inter- 
est, at a cost of $75 and sold at a profit 
of $57. 

In 1899, "The Story of the Cotton 
Gin," written by Mr. E. C. Bates, 
was reprinted from the N. F. Maga- 
zine, at a cost of §42 and sold at a pro- 
fit of $18 with 350 copies on hand. 

In 1906, "The Story of the Rice 
Boys," as written by Mr, Parkman in 
1769, was printed at an expense of $8 
and the sales have covered expenses 
with 112 copies on hand. 

Halftone cuts of the Whitne3' and 
Rice Boys tablets were prepared at a 
cost of |14 and the sale of the prints 
has met this expense with 200 copies 
on hand or in books. 

The card of invitation to the C. F. 
Convention was printed at cost of $4, 
and the expense met by gift. 

In 1898 it was voted to obtain the 
Journal of Rev. Mr, Parkman in pos- 
session of Mrs. E. Tuckerman, with a 
view of copying the same for publica- 
tion, Mrs. Forbes kindly ofl"ered to 
do the work, and also edited the same 
with most valuable notes. It was pub- 
lished at an expense of S|647. There 
have been received from sales and 
special gifts !5564, leaving a net ex- 
pense to the Society of S83, with 112 
bound copies and 500 copies in sheets 
on hand. 

The copies of the Calendar of 1906 
were sold at a profit of §39 and those 
of the Calendar for 1908 netted §5. 

The edition of "Some Old Houses,'' 
cost $53, and has been sold at a small 
profit with 75 copies on hand. 

The edition of "Mote Old Houses." 
cost $103 and stands the Society about 



$50 cost, with 89 copies on hand. 

The total profit of ten of these pub- 
lications has been $134.52, and the cost 
of two of them has been $133.40, a net 
profit on all of $1.13 with the stock on 
hand including two volumes of the 
Town History valued at over $300. 

AR'rici<ES. 

Under this head we include various 
relics, pieces of furniture, book cases, 
kitchen furnishings, revolutionary 
relics, bric-a-brac of great variety, 
articles of industrial art, fancy needle- 
work, samplers, various embroideries 
and the like. 

All these need special inspection and 
re-arranging and classifying, so that 
they may be intelligently used in il- 
lustrating the history of the times 
they represent. 

Membership, 

A list of our members shows that of 
the twenty-three who were charter 
members in 1889, only three names re- 
main on our list. Dr. and Mrs. Harvey 
and Mr. Henry. The next seven 
names remaining are those of Misses 
Nourse, Forbes and Eddy, Mrs. Gould 
and Bates, and Messrs. Brigham and 
Reilly. In all there have been 353 
names entered, of whom 128 are still 
on our list. 

Of the fourteen corresponding mem- 
bers two have died, Mr. Francis Park- 
man and Miss Eliza S. Parkman. 

There have been six presidents, Mr. 
Fayerweather four years, Dr. Corey 
two years, Judge Forbes two years. 
Rev. Mr. Weeks one year, Mr. Walker 
five years and Rev. Mr. Briant six 
years. 

The Treasury. 

The receipts from fees have been 
$3,188, from entertainments $404, for 
tablets $101 and for the debt $104, in all 



|3,797. To this should be added from 
sales of publications $1,073, making 
the total receipts $3,869. 

The publishing fund was estab- 
lished in 1906, This comprises all 
gifts and the proceeds of all sales. The 
donors have been Mr, Cyrus Gale of 
Northborough, $10, Mr. Joseph S. Fay, 
Jr., of Boston, $100, Mr. Levi Holbrook 
of New York, $10, Mr. Henry Park- 
man of Boston, $25, and Mrs, Helen R. 
Edson of Scotsville, N. Y,, $10, in all 
$155. To this is to be added from sales 
and dividends, $355, making the re. 
ceipts $410. There has been paid for 
printing and copying $253, leaving in 
the fund $157. 

Former Residents. 

The interest shown by these in all 
matters pertaining to the history of 
the town of their birth or their ances- 
tors, is very marked. We have repeat- 
edly had occasion to see this in con- 
versation with such as have visited 
here or as they have corresponded with 
the Society about its publications. 

The appreciation thus shown has 
been outspoken and very encouraging. 
We have been able to be of service to 
some in looking up their ancestry. 
One of many utterances reads: "As 
'one of the family,' I want to thank 
you for the excellent work done in be- 
half of the Fays in the booklet, 'More 
Old Houses'," In one instance we 
aided in replacing a broken stone in 
Memorial cemetery, for which the 
donor wrote: "I hasten to thank you 
most cordially for the great service 
you have done me." 

We have a list of over fifty interest- 
ed ones from Maine to California, who 
have written in a similar vein, their 
gratitude for favors received through 
the work of the Society. It is well to 
attain a reputation that commends us 



10 



to others. It was greatly to our credit 
that at a meeting of the Bay State His- 
torical League last Saturday, Mr. Roe 
could speak so highly of the work of 
our Society. I deemed it a high 
honor for him to call on me to speak 
as your representative. Let us be 
quick to see this and prompt to foster 
the interest thus awakened by every 
means at our disposal. 

Our Own Needs. 

We, also, need to cherish for our own 
sake the sentiments that gather about 
this good old town and the associations 
of the past. Every one of us here can 
help in keeping this feeling alive. 
Perhaps we can do this in no better 
way than in sustaining the work of 
this Society. 



This review of its twenty years his- 
tory, — this list of topics presented, and 
of the noteworthy persons named, — 
has not failed to impress us with the 
wisdom of those who laid the founda- 
tions and have so well built upon them. 
It surely becomes us to appreciate their 
work and to sustain it for our own 
good and for those who shall follow us. 

It is for this end that the directors 
have planned this meeting. It is their 
hope and confident expectation that 
this gathering will be a rallying point 
at which we shall find a renewal of 
interest on the part of many who have 
helped us in the past. We hope, also, 
that the interest of others will be en- 
listed in so filling up our ranks that we 
may go forward in our various lines 
of work most successfully. 



11 



TWENTY YEARS 



OF THE 



Westborough Historical S o c i li t \' 



Lb D '10 



